Device for selection of articles of



Aug. 27, 1946. F, R, GRANDI-JEAN 2,406,495-

DEVIGE FOR SELECTION oF ARTICLES 'oF WEARING APPAREL Filed Dec. 1, 1944 Patented Aug. v27, 1946 DEVICE FOR SELECTION OF vARTICLES OF WEARING APPAREL y Frederick R. `Grand-Jean; University City; Mo.; assignor to Sel-Mor sGarment Co. Inc., St. Louis, Mo., a corporationkofllissouri .Application December 1, 1944, Serial No. 566,229

'I'his invention relates to improvements in devices for selection of articles of wearing apparel,

fpresentlyrequired in selection of an article ,of --Wearingapparel in order best to suit customer and more particularly to merchandise selectors Y for garments or otherv articles otwearing apparel produced and stocked in a Variety of measurements, types, models, styles and perhaps of other varying characteristics. The device is par- Yticularly, although by no means exclusively, de-

signed to facilitate the correct selection of items of womens wear such as lingerie.

InV order to assure, or at least enable an optimum. selection oi garments from an extensive stock, whether a manufacturers stock or at retail, there are provided not only a substantial number of styles and types of lingerie and other garments, but there is also noted a Atendency among more progressive manufacturers to attain an increasing lperfection of iit and adaptability requirements.

An'additional and important objective is attained, by reason of a relative certaintyof lit, in

an assurance of satisfaction of the selected garment; in a reduction of number of merchandise returns, increase in number of sales possible by each sales person in a given unit/of` time; and increased customer satisfaction byV obviating uncertainty7 and vacillation on thecustomers'part.

. VVThe foregoing and'numerou's other objects"v will moreV cleariy appear from the following detailed description of a single, exemplary, preferred einbodiment ofthe invention, anda consideration ofthe description in `coni'iectionwith the accom- Y panying drawing, in which:

of garments to out-size or small size iigures, or

figures of unusual and abnormal' proportions'. It is 'nevertheless realized in. manufacturing and merchandising circles, that this increasing specialization and individualizationof garments introduces, by reason ofa much greater number of stock items, an increasing likelihood of error in customers selection. Thisl is particularly true in the case of inexperienced or inadequately trained'retail sales persons, and, even in the case of experienced personnel, the added complicationofproper selectionandntting of garments has heretofore'required first, a'thorough knowledge of the stockand typesofindividuals to be iitted, and secondly, a quick'andlheretofore sometimes difficult mental process on the part of the sales person, in order'to arrive at theoptimum combination of at-least'three variables in an item of lingerie, viz., height of wearer, hip and bust measurement. The present invention accordingly has as its general and primary objective the attainment of `a simplied low-cost device which will Ylargely eliminate the high degree of personal equation heretofore involved in the correct selection of an optimum item of wearing apparel for an individual purchaser or user.

A further and important object of the invention is attained in a simple. compact,easilyma nipulatable article for the general purpose aforesaid. and which by one or two simple operations .instantly visually indicates anyone of a number of styles, if more than one, and of a stock number, size, or other designation which practically assures against error on the part of sales persons and others identiiied with garment selection and iitting, particularly in the womens apparel fields. Yet another object of theginvention is attained in a calculator 0r determining device of the general type and for the generalpurpose noted, which is of novel form, and which is so quickly operable and freel of possibilitiesof rpersonalerror, as` very materially to reduce .the time of clerks and others of structure.

Fig. 1 is an assembly of the device,- viewed in plan, with portions of an upper and an intermediate disc broken away for clearness of"understanding; A

Fig. 2 is a plan view of an intermediate disc,

and Fig. 3 `a corresponding view of a base-or lower disc, the discs'of Figs. 2 and 3 being-'shown in corresponding relative positions.

Referring now by characters of referenceto the drawing, the device, as shown, but" with possibilities of variation in number and arrangement of its elements, includes ay base or Abottom disc element, generallyindicated at l0. Shown 'as of ycircular form, the base is provided with a fixed center pin or the like I`I, identified with an axis of rotation and, in the formfshown, als'oan axis In this example, provision isl'made for selection of a garment, according tov size and customer measurements, of anyoffour styles, models, numbers, types or other desired basis oi' group-ing. Accordingly thearea of the base Along one of the arcuatemargins of tliebase disc I 0 is a series of equiangularly related graduations I5, accompanied by al designation I1 which, inthe present case, consists of the word hips, or other wording to identify the dimensions or measurement signified by the graduation's i6. These latter in the present 4examplecover a range of sizes, within the sector I2, of 3410146 'inclusive.

In each oi the sectors I2, I3, I4 and I5, vis provided, fc-r a purpose later appearing,l a series of target areas or' indicia of suitable or desirable form, each area. shown as being-approximately rectangular, being indicated "at 2l). Itwill be noted that, by preference, proceeding in a given directionacross eachfof the base sectors, the areas `2i) are displaced, each from the preceding area, both in an-angularand in afradal direction. Otherwise expressed, these predeterminedareas aredisplaced in-A onesdirection ofrelative'move- `ment of the superpcsed planar elements-such as 'ments' and bust measurements.

vthreesuperposed preferably planar and relathe severalV discs `later to be described, thisbethe relatively displaceable elements of theisele'cquadrant of the present example,V through the y inclusive range of 3l to do, and is accompanied tor. YGenerally speaking, however, a'step'ped are 1 20, a bright color which may be different in the different sectors, Vfor example, red, yellow, green and blue, so as` to enable the target areas'or portionssthereof to bemore readily visible for indicating purposes, as will hereinafter better apr` pear. It should be noted as by no means essential that the number of areas Zehe/the same in the several base quadrants; for example, one

. vquadrant contains five of the areas 20, the other i l i'our each.

Proceeding now to a ferred form of such element isY generally indicated at 30, and is shown in the Vform of a; circular disc whose center or axis 3|is coincident with 1Y theimounting pinv or pivot element Il, hereafter To this end,

tively movable elements are employed, together Y description of aplanar elel ment which'is preferably displaceably disposed L. immediately in adjacence Ito the base I0, a pre- Vample, slips Vor other items of lingerie.

.. most or top disc, this'is. as noted, cf somewhat 'smaller diameter than the intermediate discV 39,

and is generally indicated at fill, being provided rangement as shown, is preferred,and in practice?M ,'-with a central aperture 35A, and is divided into it is also preferred to impart to the `targetnar'eas i four- ,equal-aliquot parts or in the circular form -.shown, into quadrants di, 42, 43 and M.

Each of the several individual quadrants of disc ll@ is significant of a particular style, type, model or other broad grouping of the generally similar items of stock for a` common purpose, for exl These identifying indicia are indicated at 45, A6, 41

andf, and the disc further bears, as .applicable y eitherto thetop -disc di! or to the whole selector assembly, indicia of applicabilityfor and signicance in vconnection with height of wearer.

For example,.`the indicia under 5 3, as pointed out by the numeral, is of importance in connection with' other size indicia later to be described, and

is obviously of significance in selection of length ofgarment. Y Y

Each of the quadrants iii, 32, 43 and t4 of the uppermost disc is provided intermediate'ts boundaries with a linear and radial row of slightly spaced, narrow, radially elongate windows, ports or apertures Si), opposite each of which is Yan the selector, of say three'size variables o-r dimenfsions; for example, the height of the wearer,

Ywhich obviously is reflected in diiferences in` length of the garment selected, also hip measureidentifying garment size number, these being collectively referred to by reference-character 5|. A further and important indicating feature presentlyidentied with the uppermost disc, is'ex.-

, vempliiied by the indexing arrow 52;. Any other with some means such as the pivot I I of the pres- I "entexample, for constraining these elements to a fixed path of movement. It will be noted however,V that for certain purposes wherein no more than two variables need be taken into account,

inch margin on the base disc,rbeyond theY perimveter of the intermediate disc, and also to provide g for the same difference between the intermediate and uppermost or top element.

` TheV intermediate disc 30 of the present exsimilar-.indexing expedient maybe employed, for

Yexample a projection on or notch' in the material ofthedisc4.-.

YSince the upper or topmost disc, in the present Y example, 'is divided into four equal aliquot areas or vquadrants for the purpose of denoting four particular stylesV of stock garments, the intermediate and'basediscs are also divided into corresponding areas or quadrants such that apertures formed in and indicia carried on the latter discs respectively may be arranged in a pref determined pattern within each quadrant to coample similarly to the bottom disc orbase, is

provided'with an axial aperture 3|, and isdivided 1 into four aliquot parts, otherwise designated as i quadrantsV 32,'33, Bland 35.

Since in the 'base disc, each of the quadrants isrcharacterizedV by the same general arrangement of indicia 20 and; Y 3 th'e same pattern or a substantially similar pat- 1 tern in'y each of the quadrants, th'e intermediate vthe best fit.

operate with the indicia on the upper disc for Vthe purpose of indicating which style of stock garment and size within Vthat stock will provide Thus the quadrants delineated on the base disc serve to denne areas within which indicia must be located in order to render the selector device fully useful.v In the case of the :intermediate disc the several patterns ofY aperlikewise with the patterns of.V apertures and applicable indicia appearing onthe ,upper disc. It

' should be observed that the number of aliquot areas delineated on each of thediscs may be increased` from that shown to provide fora Wider selection of rgarrnentsor the'divisions may be de- Y creasedif such is desirable.

disc' 30 isV also provided in each quadrant with a The provision of an Vangularly related series of graduations, generally indicated Vat 3'1 extends, inyat least one i' pattern shown'as consisting of four, and inione i 3 quadrant, five stepped rectangular apertures or;V z windows 36. VThe general arrangement, pattern. 1 and areasV of the windows 36 corresponds lbroadly `to the pattern and areas of the indicia-bearing ll portions 20 of base plate IB.

\ metal or combinations of such materials; fur-.-

The device Ymay be constructed in a variety of .vwayswithout departing from the general underthermore, it should be noted that. the occasional use h'erein of terminology such as'rupper and 5 .lower.is1notto Vbe understood aslimiting the device' to any :particular .position of :use or Ydis- ;play,: since obviously its functionisindependent .bly when employed'in connection with, articles of `wearingapparel,:isthought .now to have become obvious from the foregoing detailed description of itslparts 'and combinations, but it may for ycompleteness' be indicated-as usual practice for Ath'e salesperson to ascertain the'height of the wearer of the garment to'be selected. An appropriate selector assembly is then employed, as determined by the indicia of height signicance pointed out by numeral 49. 'Hip sizeand bust size are taken by measurement and recommendation given, according to type of figure and other, personal factors, as to which of the plurality of available styles or types ofgarment is bestadapted for the customer. example this'selection will be elected from one of 'the four appropriate indicia 45, 46, 41 and 48.

Theselector is now ready for manipulation, involving only two'relative placements of the discs. TherSt of these consists in a superposition of the now-determined bust size,andvhip size, each asrea'd-on the margins, respectively, of the intermediate-and-base disc, in the roWsof graduations 31 vand I5. For example, with a bustfmeasurement of v34 andfahip measurement of 36, the index line :corresponding to bust gure 34 will ce .brought `in alignment or vregister lwith the hip measurementfgraduation 36. The two lowermost discs now being relatively positioned, the uppermost disc is partially" rotated Vto bring its index mark,such asfarrowf52,` also in alignment or register with the'two graduation lines' above referred to. Therewill then immediately be visually indicated, for example, if the underlying target areas E yof disc 'Ihbe'bright'red -in color, a flash appearance-offresi color throughat least one of the apertures Ior'windows `:llzof the uppermost disc. There may be coincidentally, an appearance of other -areas' 2t of the base disc, :through one'or perhaps more than one of the-windows U in other of thefquadrants ofL the upper disc'- 4B, and if desired, and as. noted, 'differentfgroups of the target areas 2'oft-he'-base disc in the severall quadrants maybe provided with diierent colors lor other indicia, vin the interest of obvia-ting error. In any event, with the three discs' now setas noted, there is nowl accumulated-in thefselectorvthe' three size variables heretofore noted, namely, #wearer height, (oriength ofgarment), loustsizei-andy hip size.

The' result Jattained will become obvious without Adetailed description of underlying reasons, it being 'apparent that by reason of the vstepped arrangement of yareas 2D and ythesteppedI arrangement "-of windows 36, there lwill 'usually appear at least one, sometimes 4more than one,`of the areas through the Awindows of intermediate Vdisc 30. However, because of the restricted width and linear arrangement of aperturesI 59 in disc 4U, and

the-stepped arrangementof-windows 35 in disc 3i),l

anddue further tothe particular patterns of Windows `3'5 and areas2, there will never, in the design shown, be vsuch-a registration'of apertures 50 and 36 as to display the target color or indicia of Vareas 20` throughmorethan "one of the windows 50 in any given quadrant of the upper disc.

In the present 'Itlshould benoted as. entirely feasible andwith- 'inlpresent` contemplation, that, in` case, for. exam- 4ple,x.there is Vonly a: single style.number or model kofhglaifment .from which selection isito be eiected, f .afgroupofthree selected quadrantsof the assem- :bly.:could of themselves .be employed, for example,

quadrant 1|,2uof .the base disc, 32 .of theintermediateudisc-.and 44 of the top disc. Accordingly, the .use of theiterm fdisc isy intended in a broad sense vand-:not .as;particularly limiting therela- .tively movable elements to-'a full circular or other -specic'forrn Itis-well known in certain types of calculator devices, forexample, in slide rules characterized by either logarithmic or arithmeticgraduations, that-the same principles of indication and setting may lbe.. employed 'whether the slide rule be of linear cr circular construction and arrangement. Obviously' also, the principles ofthe present selector may, in .a Ymanner which will now have become obvious, be embodied in a device in which the'elements are of elongate rectangular form and areflinearly..displaceable, all within the intended scope hereof.

Although the invention has been described by making. detailed'reference to a single preferred embodim'entthereof, the detail of description is to .be understood rsolely in the sense that it is instructive ofthe practice ofthe invention, rather than Ain any. limiting sense, because of the many variants possible withinthe full intended'scope vand spirit of the'claims hereunto appended.

l I claimas my invention:

l. Adevice for aid in selecting a ladys garment from a 'stock of varying sizes and styles, the device including three superposed planar elements, two of which are relatively displaceable and individually displaceable with respect to the third or base element, the base and one other element each havinga row of graduations arranged for selectiveregister upon'relative displacement thereof, one such row being a range of hip sizes and the other, a rangeof bust sizes, the elements other than the base each having a plurality of apertures, said'apertures being' arranged in dissimilar patterns on the respective elements for selective V,register when the apertured elements are displaced, one such pattern of apertures consisting of a stepped arrangement in which the apertures of thepattern are progressively displaced in two directions, a dissimilar cooperating pattern of apertures on an adjacent elementbeing a linear arrangement, with the line of apertures extending across the path-of movement of the element'in which they areformed, the base element having a plurality of items of indicia so arranged in a pattern as to cooperate with and be selectively visible through the registered apertures of the otherelements in .accordance with the selected register f lsaid rows of graduations for predetermined hip and bust sizes, and further indicia on one of the Vapertured elements including means selectively coacting with the selected register of the rows' of graduations to predetermine hip and bust sizesfor selectively determining the visibility of .an item of 'indicia on the base element, to designate a stock garment of optimum size and style.

2. LA' device for aid in selecting a garment from a stock of vvarying sizes and styles, including three superposedscircular discs, two `of which are relatively4 rotatable vand each rotatable iwith respect toa thirdortbase disc-the base-disc and oneother having .,angularJ-graduations denoting size variables-sand. arranged. for selectiveregisten.and said base-ldisc having a plurality of separate indiciaA arranged in a pattern to cooperate with and be selectively visible through the selectively registrable'apertures of the other discs, and further in- .dicia n the uppermost disc including means arranged in cooperatingLrelation with the selected registerfof the angular graduations on the base disc and one other disc for determining the se.- lectedf'relative-rotation vthereof and visibility of base 'disc indicium to designate optimum size and style of 'garment Y Y 3. In a device for selecting an article of lingerie from a stock thereof, to assure optimum style and nt, three superpcsed rotatablecircular discs, a row of angularly related graduations indicating a range 'of hip measurementsA on the lowermost or base disc, said base disc having a plurality of patterns of indicia' thereon, the indicia in each pattern being arranged in stepped relation, a row of angularly related graduations on the intermediateidis'c, indicating a range of bust measurements, said rows being in physical adjacence to enable juxtapdsition'` of graduations indicating applicayble bust'and hip measurements,'a plurality of patterns of apertures in the intermediate disc,

each pattern-being a stepped arrangement of apertures, a corresponding plurality of patterns of apertures arranged inradial rows being provided in the upper disc for cooperative and selective registerwith apertures inthe intermediate disc, the upper 'disc being provided, with style indicia for each pattern'ofV apertures and separate size indicia adjacent each aperture ofthe radial row, the three discs being pivotally mounted on a common axis, and'being'graduated in diameter from bottomtotop, whereby to render marginal portions of eachdisc visible and accessible at all times, and other indicia on the upper disc for selective register with the juxtapositionment of graduationson the base and'intermediate discs Yin accordance with Vhip and bust measurements for determining the relative rotation of said discs, rotation thereof's'erving to bring indicia on the base V'disc into view through registered apertures in the intermediate and upper discs to designate optimum style and nt of an article of lingerie.

, 4.- In a device for selecting an article of lingerie from a stock thereof to assure optimum style and personal t, three superposed relatively rotatable discs, a row of angularly related graduations on the lowermost or base disc, indicating a range of hip measurements, a similarlrow ofv angularly relatedY graduations on the intermediate dismindicative. of bust measurements, the graduations including index lines such that one or more lines nf thetwo said rows are adapted to be brought into register, said rows being in physical adjacenceto enable through `rotation of the discs, an alignment of graduations corresponding to pre- L determinedhip and bust measurements, the up- 8 to include that of the customer. for v.whom selection is to be eiected, the relative rotation of each disc, to relate the respective rows of graduations and indexing indicia for predetermined registration, being effective to bring an indicia on the base disc into visible range within registering apertures in the upper and intermediate discs to designate optimum style and personal fit.

5. The combination and arrangement of the elements and features as recited by claim 4 but further characterized in the division ofthe areas of-theseveral discs into the same number of aliquot,V parts, the corresponding aliquot parts of the several discs being cooperative in reference to apredetermined style, model or type of article oi apparel, and in whichdilering indicia are employed in the several .aliquot divisions of the base disc area.

5. n-a devicev for aid in selecting an article of Wearing lapparel from a stock thereof to assure optimum style land personal fit, three superposed.

relatively rotatable concentric discs of substantially circular form andof progressively decreased diameter, whereby to render at least a marginal portion of each of the discs visible and accessible for manipulation at all times, a row of angularly related graduations on thelowermost or base disc, indicia adjacent the graduations to indicate a range of hip-measurements, a similar row of angularly related graduations on the intermediate discV and indicia adjacent said graduations to render them indicative of bust measurements, the graduations including index lines such that one or more lines of the two said rows are adapted to be brought into register, the rows of graduations being movable into physical adjacence toY enable through rotation of the discs, an alignment ci graduations corresponding to predetermined hip and bust measurements, a plurality of patterns of indicia on theV base disc, those indicia of each said pattern being in a stepped formation but-with certain of the patterns diiering in relative disposition and arrangement from others on the base disc, a plurality of patterns of apertures being lprovided in the intermediate disc, each of said patterns being in the nature of a stepped relation of Ysuch apertures, and the several patterns on the intermediate disc diiering in the relation of apertures to each other in the same pattern, a plurality of patterns of apertures being provided in the upper disc and arranged in radial rows, the apertures of the radial rows being substantially uniformly spaced radially of the disc, and the apertures in the upper disc being of substantially lesser area than those of the intermediate disc, there being provided separate size indicia adjacent each aperture of each of said radial rows on the upper disc, the spacing in angular and radial directions of the base disc patterns and the arrangement and areas of the apertures in the intermediate disc being of such structural arrangement that the base areas are selectively visible through one or a small plurality of the apertures in the upper disc, and indexing indicia on the upper disc arranged for cooperative registration with the predetermined alignment of graduations on the baseand intermediate discs to indicate the desired relative rotational arrangement of said discs andthereby determine a selection of wearing apparel in accordance with the size indicia adjacent the apertures in the Yupper'ydisc as denoted by the selectively visible base area. Y

-` ylilftlilDERICK R. GRAND-JEAN. 

